Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction & Match Preview

Is it time for the alarm bells to ruing at Camp Nou? The defending champions made it back-to-back slip-ups against the likes of Girona and Leganes and they will be desperate to get the La Liga campaign up and running once again with a victory on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao.

The home draw with Catalan rivals in a situation which saw Barca get down to ten men after Lenglet was sent off could be somehow justified. However, the 2-1 loss to the struggling Leganes certainly can’t as Ernesto Valverde can already feel the pressure this early in the season.

Luckily for the Spanish manager, his former team Bilbao won’t come into the game in high spirits either following a tough 0-3 defeat to Villarreal on Wednesday at San Mames.

Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao: Head-to-head

Barcelona were the dominant force in the history of head to head matches against the Basques.

Blaugrana won 42 and lost only 9 of 63 meetings with the Lions.

Barca were especially dominant in clashes at Camp Nou where they won 24, drew 4 and lost just 2 of 30 outings against Bilbao.

The visitors did not score a single goal in last three encounters against Barcelona.

Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao: Prediction

Bilbao suffered their maiden defeat of the season in mid-week to Villarreal. It made it four games on the spin without a victory for Eduardo Berizzo’s side, though. The Argentine manager is very much worried about the lack of meticulousness in his team’s defensive line given the Basques shipped five goals in last two league games against Real Betis and Villarreal.

It will definitely be the music to the ears of Lionel Messi & company. Barcelona notched as many as 17 goals in four home games in all competitions this season. You can have the hosts to bag two or more here at 1.57 odds. Barcelona will no doubts go strong from the get go and we find the home win at the half time and at the end a banker bet at 1.50.